Process maps for a research group in materials science at the university of the basque country (UPV/EHU)Ten-year evolution

Resumen

Faculties, schools and departments have juridical entity as university organizations but research groups don´t, and this is the reason why research groups, generally, are not being studied from the point of view of advanced management. However, like other organizations, management models can be used to identify and improve the activity of research groups at universities. In fact, we did start doing so in 2008 by using the EFQM model. In this context, the main objective of this work is to analyze the ten-year evolution of the process map of a research group focusing special attention on the need of assessment and revision of a good methodological tool. At the beginning (2008), the methodology used to that purpose was the EFQM model (where EFQM is European Foundation for Quality Management). Since 2016, we have been using the Advanced Management Model of Euskalit (The Basque Foundation for Advanced Management). EFQM is a not-for-profit membership foundation, established in 1989 to increase the competitiveness of the European economy. It acted as the framework for assessing applications for the European Quality Award, the transnational quality awards of Europe. Even if it was developed in the field of business to help organizations to become more competitive but it can be used for other organizations. This model is based on the identification of the processes being implemented by the organization. Using the EFQM model as methodological tool, we first elaborated our process map in 2008, and identified nine processes: three operational processes (OP), three management processes (MP), and three supporting processes (SP). Operational processes represent the core activity of our research group and are the following: OP1. Knowledge, OP2. Formation of doctorates, and OP3. Funding. The management processes govern the operational processes, being the following ones: MP1. Assessment, revision and improvement. MP2. Strategic planning, and MP3: Management for Excellence. The supporting processes are required for the implementation of the operational processes, and are: SP1. Administration, SP2. People, and SP3. Equipment and methodologies. After assessment and revision in 2014, SP3 process was renamed as “Innovation”. SP3. Innovation is wider than “Equipment and methodologies” as it includes both product and organizational innovation. Assessment and revision in 2016 produced another important change consisting on the elimination of the process MP3: Management for Excellence of the process map after. This change was coincident with the fact that Euskalit (The Basque Foundation for Advanced Management) elaborated its own Advanced Management Model in 2015. This model identifies six areas impacting on the sustainability and competitiveness of organizations: 1) long-term vision for the strategy, 2) added value focused on the customers, 3) sense of belonging for the people working for the organization, 4) commitment to society, 5) innovation applied to all aspects of the organization, and 6) production of satisfactory results in a sustainable and balanced manner. Thus, after 2015, our group has been used this model as methodological tool. The main conclusion of this work is that continuous assessment and revision (including the methodological tools) has produced an important change on the category of the process “People” which originally was a supporting process while in the newest process map is the fourth operational process.